


What Do You Know About Sherlock Holmes?

by simplyn2deep



Series: It's Not 50, It's 5-0 [2]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Gen, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-30
Updated: 2013-09-06
Packaged: 2017-11-08 22:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/448090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyn2deep/pseuds/simplyn2deep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve turns to Danny for help</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=huntress69)[The Huntress](http://www.livejournal.com/users/huntress69/) for post-posting beta work.

Danny was one of a handful of students at Kukui High who had a 0 period and in the last 8 weeks, he had gotten to know, or at least know of, the other students who also had a 0 period. Every morning at 7, Danny walked into the school’s library, signed in and went to the table in the back of the building where the group tables were. The building was practically deserted, but he still liked the privacy of the Encyclopedias and various topographic maps of the Hawaiian Islands, the United States and the world.

Danny had just pulled out both his notebook and math book when the early morning sun was blocked and a shadow was cast on the table he was using. He looked up, ready to glare and rant at the person who was about to bother him, when he noticed who it was. Danny paused a bit and rethought the words that were about to leave his mouth.

“Can I help you?” Danny asked.

“You’re Danny Williams, right?” the person asked. 

Danny nodded his head. 

“You have Lukela for AP English?” 

Danny nodded his head again and the person pulled out a chair from across the table and sat down.

“Uhh…what are you doing?” Danny asked.

“Sitting down,” the person said with a laugh. “That’s what one does with a chair when they pull it out.”

Danny sat up from his slouching position in his chair. “Yes, I know that. But one also usually asks if the seat is taken before helping themselves to it.”

“Right; is anyone sitting here?” the person asked. They waited a beat before responding. “I didn’t think so.” Danny rolled his eyes. “I’m sure Meka’s told you all about me…”

Danny shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing I didn’t already know from Chemistry class,” the person cocked an eyebrow and looked at Danny. “You sit at the table next to me, Steve McGarrett.”

“So you do know who I am,” Steve said with a smile. 

Danny’s stomach absolutely did not get all twisty.

“Jameson’s told me that if I don’t bring up my grade in Honor’s English, Coach Carter is going to pull me from the starting lineup and that’ll make my old man flip out.” 

Danny stared blankly at Steve. “And you’re telling me this because?”

Steve sighed, tilted his head forward and looked at Danny though his eyelashes. “What do you know about Sherlock Holmes?”

Danny gave the relatively simple question some thought before answering. “The Robert Downey, Jr. movie?”

Steve’s eyes became comically wide as he tossed his backpack on the table. “Movie? I thought you guy were reading a book? Catherine didn’t tell me about a movie.”

Danny suppressed a laugh and shook his head. “Never mind; what do you need to know about Sherlock Holmes?”

“Is it the book or the movie?” Steve asked again. “Because my father has Holmes books, but I don’t know if he has the movie.”

This time Danny couldn't resist laughing out loud. “Forget the movie, McGarrett. What book do you have?”

“My father has a few of them, he used to read them to my sister and me when we were younger, but I brought two of them,” Steve replied as he pulled both books out of his backpack. “ _A Study in Scarlet_ and _The Adventure of the Dancing Men_.”

Danny gave both books consideration. He’d only read parts of _A Study in Scarlet_ and found it confusing at best, but thought _The Adventure of the Dancing Men_ was a bit more enjoyable. “What kind of assignment do you have to do on Holmes?”

Steve shrugged again. “I guess it would depend on the book. I looked over Lukela’s Holmes approved reading list and each book has a different assignment attached to it.” 

Danny nodded his head; he knew all about the reading list and the assignments attached to it. 

“Coach said I have until progress reports at the end of December, if that makes any difference.”

This time Danny’s eyes went wide. “That’s next month and the assignments for both of these require at least six weeks for reading and doing the assignment.”

Steve sighed. “Will you help me?”

Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “Zero period is the only time I’m free. You gonna have a problem being here at 7 am?”

Steve didn’t take the time to think before he nodded his head. “I can do that. I’m usually up at six to surf.”

“Right, then start reading _The Adventure of the Dancing Men_. The assignment for that one is fairly simple. You have to come up with your own substitution cipher and one paragraph in your final paper on the book has to be written in that cipher.”

After Danny explained it, he was sure Steve would balk at doing the assignment, but was thrown for a loop when he agreed.

“What book did you choose?” Steve asked

“I haven’t decided on my next one yet.”

“Next one? How many have you done?”

Danny looked a little smug and also went for nonchalance. “I’ve done two so far.” 

“You’ve done 2 reports in 2 months? I thought you said they take about 6 weeks to do!”

“Oh no, not me; they might take **you** 6 weeks, but I finished 2 reports in 2 months,” Danny said with a smirk.

“What are you trying to say?” Steve demanded. “You think I can’t finish the book and the report in a month?”

Danny continued to smirk. “I don’t know, McGarrett…can you finish it in a month?”

Steve glared at Danny. He knew when he was being challenged and Steve never backed down from challenges. “Oh I can finish it, and I bet you I can come up with a code you won’t be able to break.”

Danny laughed and shook his head. “You really want to bet me? Ask Catherine what she got on the _Dancing Men_ report, and then ask her to see a copy of my report…”

Steve stared at Danny. “You’re saying you’re smarter than Catherine?!”

“No, I’m saying that you shouldn’t make foolish bets against people you don’t know.” Danny gathered his books and papers and shoved them in his backpack. “So, tomorrow at 7 am? Or do you need a day or two to think about it?”

Steve glared at Danny as he walked away laughing. 

“You know when and where to find me once you’ve decided, McGarrett.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally planned on having this completed before now! No excuses. I got lazy with this and shouldn't have since it was such an easy fill and something I really enjoyed working on.

Steve asked Catherine about her grade on the _Dancing Men_ assignment and after getting over the giggling it induced (and he’d swear on his grandfather’s life that he **didn’t** giggle), Catherine pulled out her B+ report.

“Lukela just didn’t like that it took him so long to figure out my cipher,” Catherine said with a shrug. “He said we could make it up providing we give him the key.”

Steve looked at Catherine with a raised eyebrow. “What was your key?”

“Numbers,” Catherine said in a tone that meant it should have been obvious. “Well mathematical equations to be precise.”

Steve laughed again. “You made an English teacher do math to figure out your assignment?”

“It was basic algebra. Danny suggested Trigonometry, but I actually want to pass the class,” Catherine said with a laugh.

Steve shook his head and gave the paper back to Catherine. “What about Danny? What did he do?”

Catherine smiled, rummaged through some papers and pulled out a folder. “Lukela was a bit impressed. Danny used the Caesar cipher twice.”

Steve looked over the paper and gave a low whistle. “He did a five shift, then a three shift in reverse? I wouldn’t have thought of that.”

Catherine snatched the folder out of Steve’s hand. “ **That’s** why you aren’t in Lukela’s class.” She smiled at him. “What are you going to do?”

“If I told you, you might figure it out before I turn in the paper,” Steve smiled. “Gotta go, football practice!” He ran off to meet Chin and Meka as they walked to the locker room.

~+~

Steve didn’t exactly finish the assignment in a month due to the simple fact that every day he’s met up with Danny, they worked on ciphers trying to stump each other. They spent nearly all of Danny’s zero period trying to come up with their own cipher using the letters in their name or the name of someone in the family, only it didn’t work as well as they hoped.

It was almost a week later before Steve felt confident enough to show Danny the cipher he decided on. He turned in his assignment on time, got a decent grade on it, enough for Coach Carter to relax and Jameson to send a nice letter home to his folks telling them he’s doing AP level work in his Honors class. His parents were pleased to say the least.

“So, I heard all about the grade on your _Dancing Men_ paper, great job by the way. Better than Catherine. I’m sure she wasn’t pleased by that.”

Steve smirked and gave a half shrug. “She said it wasn’t going to hurt her grade since I wasn’t actually in her class. I didn’t know Lukela graded on a curve.”

“I’m usually the one setting the curve so I don’t too much pay attention to it,” Danny replied. “So, dazzle me with this cipher that got you a better grade than Catherine.”

Steve pulled out the report that had a bright blue A- on it, and handed it to Danny along with two other sheets of paper.

“Numbers? Tell me you didn’t use algebra…,” Danny pleaded.

Steve shook his head. “Nope, a number shift. I had another cipher in mind, but I’m still trying to work out the kinks before I unveil it.”

Danny laughed and was about to make another comment, but the bell signaling the end of 0 period rang. Danny made a motion to give the papers back to Steve but he shook his head and only took the report. “You can give it back to me when you decode the note.”

Danny quirked an eyebrow, but Steve motioned to the papers. “Just do it!” Steve said as he ran off to class.

Danny unfolded the paper and looked at the neatly written numbers.

3315154511454523154423432433414543511331114544245441334445155215

For all he knew, Steve could have used a code within a code, but thought that for his first time out, he wouldn’t have created something that complex, especially if it got him an A- on his paper.

\------

Danny spent part of each period working on the cipher and by lunch he thought he had it figured out, but it was gibberish…or it could have been something in the Hawaiian language, but there were too many letters, and a random x threw it all off too.

Danny spent the rest of the day working on message and now he was confident that he figured it out. He smiled as he read the final product.

_Meet at the shrimp truck at six pm  
Steve_

Danny checked his schedule to make sure he would be able to meet Steve and smiled even more when he saw that he would be able to meet Steve after his tutoring session. Grabbing a paper from his notebook, he quickly replied to Steve’s message using the same cipher.

3424131525351244151555355111454424541411343455

Danny folded the paper and slipped it in Steve’s locker before heading to the library.

\------

Hours later, Steve and Danny met up at the shrimp truck that all the kids from the high school went to on Friday nights.

“I didn’t think you’d come…,” Steve said when Danny joined him.

“You goof. You got my message, didn’t you?” Danny asked.

Steve pulled out the paper with the encrypted message and his decryption written below it.

_Nice job_  
See you at six  
Danny 

“Yeah…but still,” Steve replied with a shrug.

Danny laughed. “Again, you’re a goof.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to PhoenixWytch for catching the error in my cipher


End file.
